Ramsay's Mansion Restaurant: Stellar dining in the Louisiana countryside
New Orleans is one of the country's best-known dining Meccas, but on a recent farm-to-table visit to Louisiana, I found lots of other amazing food. A recent addition to the region's fine-dining scene is Ramsay's Mansion Restaurant at Nottoway, a magnificent plantation house that was renovated and refurbished earlier this year in time for its 150th anniversary.
Executive chef David Reyes was a city kid, raised in a rough Chicago neighborhood, but he has his Mexican family's farm-to-table catering business in his blood as well. His family planted corn by hand, raised cattle and made cheese, forging a direct connection from the growing and raising to the preparation and finally the consumption of food . Reyes himself graduated from Kendall College's well-regarded culinary program and interned at Puerto Vallarta resort and a Michelin-starred restaurant in Toulouse, France. Last year, back in the US, he won the grand prize and a $20,000 scholarship in the Kraft Foods 2008 Chefs of Grey Poupon Student Culinary Competition for his Dijon Surf and Turf in a New World Romesco Sauce recipe.
Once he was on board at Nottoway, he set his sights on some of the property's 38 acres for a kitchen garden, from which he has already been harvesting. The phrase "more than 30 herbs" also passed his lips. He is not yet 30 and has a combination of energy, ambition and culinary training that bode well for Ramsay's Mansion Restaraurant, especially if our group's seven-course dinner featuring Chef's selection is any indication. A lovely setting in a glassed in garden room looking out at the landscaped grounds (until it got dark), attentive service and wines that I wrote down somewhere but can't find made this an idyllic meal.
The first course was a single moist blue crab cake with mango sauce, a cap of smoked paprika aioli and a "feather" of dill from the small-plates list on the regular menu.
Butternut squash and ginger soup with a bit of Louisiana blue crab and a froth of coconut milk, garli,c chive and soy sauce was an excellent autumn soup.
If the soup said "fall," the caprese salad said "summer." This version is made with organically grown heirloom tomatoes and house-made mozzarella with cucumbers and basil from the garden.
I had never heard of fish called "triple tail," but it is one of those species long recognized by saltwater sport fishermen that has only recently come into its own on the table. Once considered bycatch of the New Orleans shrimp fishery, it is now recognized for its similarity to sea bass. It was served in a light lobster bisque, Parmesan risotto and crisp salad of house-grown borage, fennel, beet sprouts, basil and arugula on top.
The word gnudi, a close relative of gnocchi, has now made it to southern Louisiana. The Mansion Restaurant's ricotta gnudi were soft pillows of dough made with house-made ricotta, perfecty cooked and loaded into a soup plate with fresh house-made sausage, sage, brown butter, a piquant sauce and a shaving of cheese (Parmesan, Pecorino Romano, other?) on top.
X marked the spot on the plate where two lamb chop bones crossed and Reyes's signature tandoori spiced lamb chops rested. The tender lamb was seasoned with an almost-Cajun spice mixture, roasted and served with a bit of roasted vegetable parfait layered with goard cheese and shallot confit.
Silk buttermilk pannacotta served as the underlayment for a coulis of fresh berries and oh-so-Southern pecans.
Price check: At dinner, small plates, $8-$12; soups, $8-$19; salads, $8-$11; mains (including grilled items), $18-$32.
Nottoway is at 31025 Louisiana Highway 1 (off The Great River Road), White Castle (south of Baton Rouge); 225-545-2730.
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